A few days ago I shared the travel pictures taken en route to elk camp.  Well, we finally arrived.  My sister, Rita, her boyfriend, Jason and their dog Atlas, joined us a few days later as well as some friends from Tennessee.

I’ll not bore you with the details, such as 3 days of rain, Rita getting stuck in the mud, my stepson missing his connecting flight to Jackson Hole, thus putting us back in camp at midnight rather than 4 in the afternoon.  I’ll also not tell you how he had an elk 20 yards away, tried to shoot but had failed to load his gun properly, nor how my husband missed two elk.

  I’ll not tell you how some crazy woman woke us up at 1:30 in the morning, lost, trying to find her way to town.  Town, by the way, is 30 miles down the mountain, on a dirt road.  The only road.  We were at the literal end of the road, on the border of the wilderness.  I still don’t know how she got lost.

Also Hippo and the bucking incident.  The chipmunks destroying about 40.00 worth of fancy nut mix.  The mice eating the toilet paper.  The other chipmunks eating my hat.  And my sweater.

The part where I burn my left palm then spend the next hour crying, simpering and clinging to a metal hammer head to dull the pain.  Yes, I’ll spare you that unhappy moment.

Nor shall I tell you about the horses getting out at 3:00 in the morning in Laramie, Wyoming and I’ll not mention me chasing them thru someone’s yard in my pajamas.  No, some things are better left unwritten.

Such as the burning of the lungs from thin air and the burning of thighs from high climbs.  The dry skin.  No shower for over a week.

Yes, I’ll spare you all that.

I’ll spare you the back-wrenching horseback ride that left me walking crooked 3 days, the scary evening when I chased after a monster bull elk without a flashlight.  Which is how I got lost and my husband thought I had fallen off a cliff because I left my book, sunglasses and camera behind.  Being lost without a light in grizzly bear country is a very, very bad feeling.  I do not recommend it, at all.  My sister cried, I felt awful, and my husband declared “I thought I’d lost the only wife I ever wanted to keep”.  While not exactly romantic, its nice to know I’m loved.

Here are the fun, pleasant parts.  In pictures.  Enjoy!

Here I am, enjoying some camp coffee, yum!

The most adorable thing about Tater, on the left, is he stays loose in camp.  No halter required.  And when packing, you can just turn him loose.  He follows right along.  Priceless.

More coffee required.

Breakfast Time!

In a few days, the end of the trip, plus, ELK!

Which is why we came on the first place……..